jmc's classics
This past Sunday on the Sibelius Appreciation society page on Facebook, there was an interesting post titled how about some Thanksgiving Seconds. it profiles the Second Symphonies of: Sibelius, Brahms, Bruckner, Beethoven, Schuman and Dvorak. I love the Second Symphony of Sibelius (especially the last movement) however my favorite works of Sibelius and Bruckner are the Third Symphonies! I am not familiar with the Second Symphonies of the other composers. it did not mention the Second symphony by Schubert Which I like. The Second of Schubert is (D125) in the catalogue number. It is easy to get Schubert confused with Schumann and the more contemporary William Schuman (1910-1992).
It is easy to overeat and over stuff yourself on Thanksgiving or ask for second or third helpings!
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I went to the SLSO concert on November 20. It was my first concert since before the pandemic. Traffic on Grand Avenue to get to Powell Hall was very congested. Powell hall is next to the Fox Theatre. The Concert featured three works: Anna Clyne's PIVOT Which was a world premier, Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra (Opus# 46) and Schubert's Ninth Symphony (D944) David Danzmayr was the conductor and Simone Porter was the violinist.
The first two works I am familiar with. I have CDs of both of them. Schubert's Ninth is one of my favorite works. It is one of the most popular pieces of Schubert's. his most famous works are his Unfinished Eighth Symphony and his Version of Ave Maria. Many other composers have written versions of Ave Maria. Pivot Like the Scottish Fantasy are based on Scottish folk melodies. The piece lasts about five minutes. Clyne is an English composer. She was born in 1980. In the notes from the program it states that she was inspired by the Edinburgh Festival. Bruch's Scottish Fantasy is in five movements and based on Scottish folk tunes. It dates from 1881. Bruch wrote Three violin concertos and other pieces for solo violin and orchestra. his most famous piece along with the Scottish Fantasy is his first Violin Concerto (Opus#26). he was the conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He did not even visit Scotland until after this work was premiered. Bruch had access to a lot of manuscripts of Scottish music. Schubert's ninth dates from 1825. It was not appreciated until after his death. he died in 1828. It lasts about 45 minutes. It did not even have its premier until after Schubert's death. I enjoy this work. The Version I have is With Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Sympho9ny Orchestra in 1947. It is coupled with Schubert's Fifth Symphony which I also like. It is on RCA. The version of the Scottish Fantasy is Leonard Slatkin conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Cho-Laing Lin as the soloist it is on the Sony Label. Both recordings I recommend. Danzmayr is an Austrian Conductor and is the Conductor Designate of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. He has been a guest conductor at various orchestras. I liked the performance he did. Although I am more used to my recording of Schubert's ninth. It is an older recording. different conductors have different interpretations of works. On Exploring the Music with Bill McLaughlin this week is "Slipped through the Cracks" They are talking about symphonies that are not popular. One of the composers that he is Talking about is Hugo Alfven (1872-1960). He was a Swed. When we think of Swedish music Abba immediately comes to mind. Sweden also produced Franz Berwald (1796-1868) and many great opera singers. Bill McLauglin played parts of Alfven's Fourth Symphony which dates from 1918. Alfven liked to sale. I do not have a copy of this work. IT has a theme of the sea. It also uses a harp ( or at least the version that I heard on the radio. It also features soprano and tenor solo. He wrote a total of five symphonies. His most famous work is his Swedish Rhapsody #1 (Opus#19) The Swedish Rhapsody was featured in several Loony Tunes episodes with Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. I have recently purchased a copy of this work on CD He was also a painter and a writer. He painted some water colors which I don't know much about. He was multi talented. Originally he was trained as a violinist. he was also a conductor. he had served as the conductor for may years of the Swedish male chorus Orphi Danger. I am not familiar with this group. His nephew Hannes Alfven (1908-1995) won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970. The Swedish Rhapsody dates from 1903. He actually wrote three Swedish Rhapsodies. This piece is nick named Midsommarvaka (or Mid summer). It was played by Percy Faith and his orchestra. This piece hit the top of the US top 30. This is his most popular work. It lasts about 12 minutes The CD which I have is coupled with his Symphony #1 and the Drapa. It features the Deutsches Symphonie Orchestra and Lukasz Borowicz conducting. It is on the CPO Label. I enjoy this CD. There are many excellent versions of this work. Check it out on You Tube or Spotify. I am not as familiar with his other works but I hope to become more familiar soon. Most of the Swedish music for the past 40 years has been overshadowed by ABBA. |
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